Getting back into playing shape work in progress for Mosqueda-Lewis

Rich Elliott

Updated 9:14 pm, Saturday, January 18, 2014

STORRS -- It has been a process for UConn junior Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis this season. It is a process that is taking much longer to reach its completion than she hoped it would.

Mosqueda-Lewis missed eight games due to a nerve contusion of her right elbow after taking a hard fall against Stanford Nov. 11. Getting back on the court was only the first step. The next step, which has been a cause of frustration, is getting back into game shape.

Not yet at 100 percent as top-ranked UConn prepares to face No. 23 Rutgers today (3 p.m.; ESPN2), Mosqueda-Lewis has continued to meet the challenge head-on. And she is not making any excuses either.

"You can run on the treadmill, and you can do the Elliptical or go on the bike, but it's not the same as running up and down a basketball court,'' Mosqueda-Lewis said. "It's just something I've got to go through. I got injured. I got out of shape and I have to get back in shape now during the season when we already have practices and we're having games.''

At this point, the process is more of a mental battle than it is a battle physically. Mosqueda-Lewis is trying to remain positive and on top of what it will take for her to return to peak condition.

She has been regularly taking part in extra conditioning workouts on off-days and following practice. For example, she ran on the treadmill Wednesday, performing an accelerated sprints regimen, and Thursday, and utilized the Stairmaster following practice Friday for approximately 25 minutes.

"It's not a concern of mine right now,'' UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. "I think three weeks from now it will be if it doesn't get better. But for five weeks if you're not playing basketball you're not going to be in great shape and it's going to take a while.''

Mosqueda-Lewis admitted that she too is not concerned with her current physical condition. In fact, she has been encouraged by the results she has seen of late.

"I'm definitely encouraged, and it helps when you have people like (team athletic trainer) Rosie (Ragle) and (Strength & Conditioning coach Amanda) Kimball right there all the time willing to help,'' Mosqueda-Lewis said.

"(Getting in shape) is in the forefront. And that's exactly why I've been doing extra workouts. That's exactly why changing things here and there is going to help me.''

Mosqueda-Lewis also hopes better conditioning will yield better results in games. She is averaging 11.3 points, 4.9 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 26.0 minutes in eight games since her return. She is shooting 45.9 percent from the field and 42.6 percent from 3-point range.

However, since scoring 21 points in her return at Duke Dec. 17, Mosqueda-Lewis has averaged 9.8 points over the last seven games, shooting 42.9 percent from the field and 36.1 percent from 3-point range.

She began this season with a career scoring average of 16.3 in 76 games.

"For me to like come in -- and I'm usually a scorer, I'm usually someone we look for to get the ball and stuff like that -- but when you haven't been in the game and your teammates have gotten out of a flow of looking for you,'' Mosqueda-Lewis said. "They're not used to it again. You just go back into practice. You just go back into the games. So it takes a while for me and my teammates to kind of get used to it again.''

What has been apparent is that Mosqueda-Lewis has become primarily a perimeter shooter, doing very little work inside offensively. She has attempted just two free throws -- both at Memphis Jan. 4 -- in 208 minutes since returning to the lineup.

"I don't think K is getting the kind of movement that we want,'' Auriemma said. "We've kind of addressed that the last three or four days and I think that's something that's going to improve. I think from a coaching standpoint we've got to keep doing a better job of moving her around because she does get a tendency to drift around the 3-point line.''

Mosqueda-Lewis played a season-high 34 minutes at No. 7 Baylor Monday. That was progress in itself.

She will continue to push forward. She will continue to work diligently in an effort to regain her All-American form.

"I kind of sense what she's going through with last year and how it was for me (ankle),'' UConn senior Bria Hartley said. "So I feel like I can be there to talk to her and kind of talk her through it. I don't really know how to tell her how to change it right away because it took me a while. But you've just got to keep fighting and working through it and eventually it will come, I think.''